LEARN MORE AND APPLY Taking place June 27 - July 3, 2026The Upstander Academy is a seven-day professional learning program designed to give up to 25 teachers, curriculum designers, and public historians, grades 3 through 12, an immersive and experiential understanding of Native American history and contemporary realities in the Dawnland, present-day New England. In … Continue reading Join the Upstander Academy: Professional Learning for Educators
Slave Legacy History Coalition Event | Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging with Tara Roberts on 8/8/26
Apr 08, 2026, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM EDT on Zoom REGISTER HERE Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging by Tara Roberts is a memoir about her journey as a National Geographic Explorer to find and document the shipwrecks of slave ships, connecting this maritime history to her own identity as … Continue reading Slave Legacy History Coalition Event | Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging with Tara Roberts on 8/8/26
In the News | U.S. Rejects Vote to Recognize Slavery as a ‘Crime Against Humanity’
By Ruth Maclean, New York Times The United States voted against a United Nations resolution this week to formally recognize the trans-Atlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity.” The resolution, which was led by Ghana, urged U.N. member states to apologize for the slave trade and to contribute to a reparations fund. On Tuesday, … Continue reading In the News | U.S. Rejects Vote to Recognize Slavery as a ‘Crime Against Humanity’
Event | International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
On Wednesday, 25 March 2026 at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the United Nations General Assembly will convene its annual plenary meeting to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Speakers will include the President of the 80th Session of the General Assembly, Her Excellency Annalena Baerbock; the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres; a keynote address from … Continue reading Event | International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Maine Philanthropy Center Event | Launching the History of Philanthropic Wealth in Maine Report on 4/7/26
The Maine Philanthropy Center is hosting an event on April 7 to launch "The History of Philanthropic Wealth in Maine," a report exploring wealth origins and their impact on communities. Attendees will engage in discussions on equitable philanthropy and actionable frameworks for community-centered giving, featuring reflections from experts and opportunities for dialogue.
Slavery North Event | “Called to Care: Black Women in Epidemic Philadelphia” with Fellow Olivia Haynes on 3/12/26
Olivia Haynes, a PhD candidate in Afro-American Studies, will present her research on Black women's labor during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia at a Fellow Talk on March 12, 2026. The event, hosted by Slavery North, is open to all and will take place both in-person and online via Zoom.
Indigo Arts Alliance Event | Art in the Wake II: Repairing, Healing and Memory | live from Brazil, today!
Saturday, February 28, 2026starting at 8:00 am EST Art in the Wake II: Repairing, Healing and Memory is the second symposium in Indigo Arts Alliance’s multiyear partnership with the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s (NMAAHC) Center for the Study of Global Slavery (CSGS). Building on the 2023 inaugural program, Art in the Wake: Reckoning and Re-membering, our continued collaboration … Continue reading Indigo Arts Alliance Event | Art in the Wake II: Repairing, Healing and Memory | live from Brazil, today!
In the news | Plaques to mark Kittery’s role in transatlantic slave trade
Portsmouth Herald reports on the critical commemorative work of the Maine Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project Feb. 24, 2026 Residents are digging into the town’s ties to the transatlantic slave trade and Kittery Point’s status as a documented arrival port for ships carrying enslaved people. Two plaques will be installed — one at … Continue reading In the news | Plaques to mark Kittery’s role in transatlantic slave trade
South Portland Event | Amos’s Ear: The Historic African American Community of Peterborough in Warren, Maine on 2/18
February 18 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pmSouth Portland Main Library482 BroadwaySouth Portland, ME 04107 LEARN MORE Join Kate McMahon, Ph.D. at the Main Library on Wednesday, February 18th at 6:30pm for the historical presentation Amos’s Ear: The Historic African American Community of Peterborough in Warren, Maine. Amos Peters was a man of mixed Wampanoag and African heritage and a Revolutionary War veteran … Continue reading South Portland Event | Amos’s Ear: The Historic African American Community of Peterborough in Warren, Maine on 2/18
Mystic Seaport Museum Event | Closing of “Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty and the Sea” on 1/17
On Saturday January 17 at 1pm a special closing ceremony will feature remarks by two RNEH collaborators, Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, Visiting Scholar & Adjunct Lecturer at the Simmons Center and Dr. Mack Scott, Visiting Assistant Professor of Slavery & Justice at the Simmons Center.
ABB Event | Mary Heuston: A Local Black Freedom Story in the 19th Century Atlantic Maritime World on 1/14/26
Join us on 1/14 for a powerful and deeply researched talk by Dr. Eben Miller. Late one evening in August 1850, a young woman quietly slipped out of a home on Middle Street in Bath, Maine. While her enslavers slept, she entered a carriage bound for Brunswick. With help from local Black residents, she evaded recapture and secured her freedom.
In the news | ‘Rebranded plantations’: how empire shaped luxury Caribbean tourism
By Eleanor Shearer, The GuardianFriday, December 12, 2025 READ FULL ARTICLE Luxury tourism in the Caribbean sells a kind of timelessness. A paradise of sun, sea and sand. But to step off the cruise ship or away from the all-inclusive resort is to see a more complex picture: a history of colonialism and a future … Continue reading In the news | ‘Rebranded plantations’: how empire shaped luxury Caribbean tourism
ABB Event | Once Upon a Hill in Maine: The Pedro Tovookan Parris Story on 11/9
Award-winning, internationally acclaimed storyteller Antonio Rocha brings his newest work, Once Upon a Hill in Maine: The Pedro Tovookan Parris Story, to Kennebunk this Sunday.
Newport Center for Black History Exhibit | Forging Freedom: Atlantic Journeys, opening 11/10/25
Opening November 15 at Overlap Gallery, "Forging Freedom: Atlantic Journeys" brings together ten contemporary artists to explore Black and Indigenous histories of freedom-making across the Atlantic world.
ABB Event | The Just History Project with Researcher Bill Grabin 7/23/25
This Wednesday, Atlantic Black Box is honored to host a presentation by Bill Grabin, who in 2020 joined a local effort to uncover the suppressed history of Wabanaki and Black residents of what are now the towns of Wells, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Arundel. Over the next five years, Bill led the research that culminated in the creation of the Just History Database.
Paris Hill Event | Debut performance of Antonio Rocha’s “Once Upon a Hill in Maine: The Pedro Tovookan Parris Story” on 7/16/25
Experience a powerful journey of resilience, courage, and freedom through the eyes of Pedro Tovookan Parris. Pedro was born in East Africa and found his way to Maine after being enslaved as a child and taken to Brazil on a Maine vessel.
American Ancestors Event | “Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea” with Marcus Rediker on 6/16
With Dr. Marcus Rediker Hosted by American Ancestors June 16, 2025, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET REGISTER HERE A pre-eminent scholar of Atlantic history and the award-winning author of The Slave Ship, Marcus Rediker joins us to share his definitive, sweeping account of the Underground Railroad’s long-overlooked maritime origins. As many as 100,000 people emancipated … Continue reading American Ancestors Event | “Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea” with Marcus Rediker on 6/16
ABB Event | Divided North: Abolition, Slavery, and the Slave Trade in Maine on 5/28/25
With Dr. Carol Gardiner and respondent Bob Greene A Speaker Series event Hosted by Atlantic Black Box Wednesday, May 28, 2025 6:00 pm ET on zoom REGISTER HERE Next Wednesday, Atlantic Black Box is honored to host a presentation by Dr. Carol Gardner that explores how the experiences of two 19th-century Portland families—one Black and one … Continue reading ABB Event | Divided North: Abolition, Slavery, and the Slave Trade in Maine on 5/28/25
Announcing Munson Institute Summer Courses at Mystic Seaport Museum
During the summer of 2025, the Munson Institute in Mystic, CT will offer two concurrent courses focused on the American maritime experience. Applications due March 14.
TONIGHT! ABB Speaker Series Event | An Uneasy Alliance: Free African Americans & the Colonization Movement to Liberia on 2/19
Tonight at 5 pm ET, Atlantic Black Box is honored to host Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene, Chair of Africana Studies and Professor of History at Clark University, for a talk on Free African Americans and the Colonization Movement to Liberia in the 19th-century.